Advice on an 1974 Epiphone Texan

[martgonzo]

Hi everyone, my local guitar shop has an epiphone texan for sale made in japan around about 1974, i know the owner well (hes my judo instructor) and he said he'll sell it for £150. I'm a bit apprehensive because I know these guitars can have a lot of problems stemming from the bolt on neck, such as cracks around the sound hole and the neck buckling forward...from what i can see it has no problems in this department and the body is generally in excellent condition couldnt find a single ding or big mark on it. However, the bridge has a crack in it, looks like the tension of the strings has pulled it apart, he said he would send it to an expert then repair it accordingly and sort out some string buzz that was going on...anyway, do you think this would be a good purchase or is it likely to get more and more problems? and is there anything else i should look out for, I'm going to have a look at it again on Saturday. The sound on it was first class, with a lovely deep and mellow tone. nothing brand new that was in the same price range came anywhere near it in terms of sound. It's just the issue of build quality and longevity that bugs me also considering I've got next to no cash! Any responses would be greatly appreciated, cheers.

 

Martin

[TommyK]

If this Norlin era "Texan" has a stable neck and has been strung up with steel for all these years I'd say it will probably be okay.

 

>>http://forums.epiphone.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=1100<<

 

The above link is to a repair I've done. It has pics of some of the damage seen. Many were fixed under warranty back then. Some later builds are stable. What label does it have? tan? or blue?

 

How's the action at the 12th fret?

 

Don't know the exchange rate, but a hundred fifity US Dollars would be fair if the neck is good and the bridge gets fixed.

 

BTW the FT145 "Texan" is not the same as the earlier FT79 "Texan" of John Lennon fame. Just so you know. The price the buyer is quoting is fair for the lesser Norlin model... which this undoubtedly is.

 

BBTW my avatar is of my own FT145SB (sunburst). With the fix holding, she has tone to die for. She's my favorite.

[martgonzo]

OK, thanks for the advice i'll check out all that stuff next time i have a look at it and post back. there must be a lot of over priced texans on ebay. people are selling FT145s for £200-300 which is approx. $290-440, claiming they are superior to the previous american made models. if that is the case and they are overpriced, i'll try and haggle him down a bit more so its closer to $150 mark.